Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio provides two containers for managing database projects such as scripts, queries, data connections, and files: solutions and projects. The objects that these containers hold are called items.

Important

This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature.

A project is a set of files, plus related metadata such as connection information. The files in a project depend on which Microsoft SQL Server component the project is for. For example, a SQL Server project may contain data definition language (DDL) queries defining objects in a database.

A solution includes one or more projects, plus files and metadata that help define the solution as a whole.

Solutions and projects contain items that represent the scripts, queries, connection information and files that you need to create your database solution. Use these containers to:

Implement source control on queries and scripts.

Manage settings for your solution as a whole or for individual projects.

Use Solution Explorer to handle the details of file management while you focus on items that make up your database solution.

Add items that are useful to multiple projects in the solution or to the solution without referencing the item in each project.

Work on miscellaneous files that are independent from solutions or projects.

The items contained in projects depend on the project type and whether you are using SQL Server Management Studio. This section contains the following topics.

Note

SQL Server Management Studio does not support Microsoft Visual Studio or Microsoft Business Intelligence Development Studio solutions or projects.